This invention is directed to a new system and method for closed wound draining e.g., the type of wound which occurs during surgery and is subsequently sewn or closed and then drained of fluid after surgery.
More particulary, the present invention is directed to the use of an auto-infusion bottle or container sold under the trademark SOLCOTRANS by Solco Basle, Inc. of Rockland, Mass, U.S.A., and which is normally used for intraoperative auto-transfusion (i.e., the collection of blood during surgery and thereafter the transfusion of the patient with the same collected blood) for postoperative wound drainage. When one uses the Solcontrans.TM. bottle for intraoperative auto-transfusion, collected blood feeds into the inner bag in the bottle via a elongated fill tube against gravity and then falls into an inner bag. Thus collected debris e.g., bone collected with the blood from the surgical incision area is not able to clog the inlet fill tube for collecting the blood.
However, the use of the Solcotrans.TM. bottle in this manner has not been found satisfactory when used in conjunction with postoperative closed wound drainage catheters because the blood which is sucked into the fill tube is evacuated at low pressure has to flow against the hydrostatic pressure head generated by the height of the fill tube thereof.
The present invention provides a solution to using the Solcotrans.TM. bottle for closed wound drainage.